Outdoor recreation such as camping, hiking, back-country skiing, climbing and the like often requires, or is made more enjoyable by, the use of a portable fabric shelter. Tents have been enjoyed for years for this purpose, typically consisting of a flexible folding fabric shell that is supported by rigid or semi-rigid poles to form a shelter. Tents may be large for activities such as camping, or may be small, compact and lightweight for activities such as hiking and climbing. It is desirable for the tent fabric shell to be securely, but quickly and readily, assembled to the supporting pole structure. Similar considerations apply to smaller shelters such as bivouac-sacks, as well as canopies and "flying wing" shelters.
One manner of assembling poles to tent fabric is to slide the poles through fabric tubes or sleeves formed on the tent. While securely attaching the fabric to the poles, this method of assembly is time-consuming and cumbersome. Thus, many tents today include a plurality of clips that are attached to the tent fabric along the seams. The clips are then secured to the supporting poles. In particular for freestanding tents, a tent pole will typically have a first end received by a grommet or seat extending from the tent fabric close to the ground on one side of the tent. The tent pole then reaches up and bends over the tent, with the opposing end being received in a corresponding grommet or seat defined on the opposite side of the tent. Between the ends, a plurality of clips secured to the tent fabric are connected to the pole.
Conventional clips are formed of either metal or a substantially rigid plastic, such as Nylon polyamide. The clips are tethered to the tent fabric by a short length of fabric webbing, such as Nylon, or by an elastic cord. During and after assembly, the fabric or elastic cord tether allows the clip to be pulled relative to the fabric, and to pivot relative to the fabric. This results in a tent pole support structure that can be rather shaky and unstable. Further, many tents utilize a plurality of poles which cross each other at certain points. In conventional tent designs, at the point of crossing the poles are not secured together. Thus, they freely slide relative to each other in all directions. This again tends to contribute towards the general instability of the tent.